


One Summer's Day

by Japo_Chan23



Series: The Studio Ghibli Collection [1]
Category: Linked Universe - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Author Is Sleep Deprived, Bathhouses, Crack Treated Seriously, Crying, Fluff, For a Friend, Hilda is Only Mentioned, I'm Bad At Summaries, Inspired by Studio Ghibli, Legend Just Wanted a Break, Legend is the Only Hylian, Link turns into Legend, Linked Universe (Legend of Zelda), M/M, Mentions of Koholint, Name Changes, Not Beta Read, Not Canon Compliant, Not Shippy, Not That Bad Yuga, Oneshot, Past Marin/Legend, Sorry I know I said it was going to but then it all became about Legend lmao, Spirited Away AU, Studio Ghibli, The Moon is Also a Spirit, Time is a Spirit, Vomiting, at some points I think, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-26
Updated: 2020-06-26
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:49:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 20,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24925681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Japo_Chan23/pseuds/Japo_Chan23
Summary: Retiring from being a hero was all Link had hoped for.He felt he had went on too many adventures, and he had wanted to retire after what had happened with Koholint, but there was still more to do for some reason.Being forced to work in a bathhouse for spirits, however, shouldn't have been one of those things that Link had to do.
Relationships: Legend (Linked Universe)/Ravio (Legend of Zelda), Link/Ravio (Legend of Zelda)
Series: The Studio Ghibli Collection [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1820017
Comments: 12
Kudos: 46





	One Summer's Day

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Wayfarer_on_discord](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wayfarer_on_discord/gifts).



Retiring from being a hero was all Link had hoped for. 

He felt he had went on too many adventures, and he had wanted to retire after what had happened with Koholint, but there was still  _ more  _ to do for some reason.

Sighing, he pushed his hair back. He had dyed it blonde once more, leaving a streak of pink. He knew how much Marin liked his pink hair, so he felt it fitting to leave some left. He knew some people thought he just dyed that part of his hair pink for the hero, which made him happy to know that people didn’t really recognize him as the hero now that his hair was blonde. 

Link felt like there was just too much going on. Home was nice, but it got boring eventually when he was just doing the same thing over and over again, and sometimes his neighbors would go to him for mundane tasks.

So, vacation it was. 

The collector just took his sword and a few items before he decided to take off. It was supposed to be a vacation, so he didn’t really want to bring his whole arsenal when he was just trying to take some time off from everything.

Link wasn’t too sure where he was going, but he eventually made his way into the forest. The area was familiar and he enjoyed walking through it, but he didn’t  _ really _ want to stay there for longer than necessary. 

“What the fuck.” Link furrowed his brow, stepping towards a small stone. It was half of his height.

Crouching down, he looked at the face on the statue, tilting his head slightly. It was weird looking, and he couldn’t say he remembered seeing the statue or the weird tunnel that was behind it. 

Sighing, he stood back up, placing a hand on his hip.

Go through mysterious tunnel or go back home?

Link almost turned around, planning to go home or find somewhere else to spend a few days at, before realizing that anyone else he went  _ someone _ was bound to recognize him or ask him to do something.

Cursing under his breath, he patted the top of the statue in greeting, before he made his way forward, going through the tunnel.

Going through the tunnel was easy enough, and he thought that the red of the tunnel was a nice touch, despite the overgrowth that was slowly growing on it. It was dark, and Link couldn’t help squinting before he pulled out his lantern, to better see where he was going. Wouldn’t want to trip and all. 

On the other side of the tunnel, it was barren. Appearing in a building was odd, with empty, dusty benches decorating the place, small circular stained glass bringing dull light into the room. There was an exit, sunlight pouring in from the large hole in the wall. 

Shoving his lantern away with a huff, Link made his way out of the building, wiping his forehead. It was hot, but his fault for wearing his tunic in during summer. He glanced back at where he came from, frowning when he noticed that there were three entrances.

“Could’ve sworn there was only once,” he mumbled to himself, exiting the building. 

This wasn’t the forest. 

Obviously. 

There was no forestry, no trees that would block the sunlight and cover the ground with shade, large jagged rocks sticking out of the ground, with the occasional stone that was identical to the one he saw outside the tunnel. There were homes that were empty and old, plants taking it over as their own home, and Link couldn’t help but wonder what exactly happened here. 

There wasn’t any dedicated pathway, and the grass was taller than expected, brushing against his boots gently as the wind caressed his face. There were wild flowers that decorated the ground, and Link couldn’t help the urge to lean down and pluck one out of the ground.

He pressed forward, brow furrowing. 

He hasn’t seen anyone, or any other form of life, since he went through the tunnel. 

The wind blew furiously, his tunic drifting in the wind slightly as he pushed his hair back so that he could see. 

Link gently made his way over a large pile of rocks, where he assumed a river was supposed to be, stumbling his way to the staircase. He tripped, scraping his knee against the concrete, and he hiss at the sting. He was bleeding slightly, but he could manage. He’s had a lot worse, after all. 

The buildings were closer together, and didn’t appear as worn down. The smell of food hit his nose, and he frowned. He hadn’t even seen anyone yet… 

There were statues that decorated the place, and there were strange Hylian characters on signs that he didn’t recognize, couldn’t read. Link continued to make his way throughout the deserted city, growing wary as he strolled past stalls that contained food that he had smelt earlier. It was fresh, and he could still see steam wafting over the meals. ‘ _ Still warm…’ _ Something in his gut told him to turn back, but Link ignored it, pressing forward. 

He tilted his head when he noticed a bridge, and a large bathhouse that laid across from hit. “The fuck?” Link grumbled, furrowing his brow. He looked over the bridge, expecting a river, but was shocked to see ground, hundreds of feet below him, and a strange vehicle that roamed across tracks. 

With a huff, he turned back to the bathhouse, nearly screaming when he saw a man with purple hair staring at him. “Who the fuck-”   
  
“You can’t be here, Mister!” The purple haired man shouted, rubbing his hands together frantically as he glanced at the bathhouse, before staring at Link with wide eyes. “The sun is almost down! You need to leave immediately, sir!” 

“What the hell are you talking about!?” Link shouted, hands clenching. The sun was slowly setting, and the man began to push Link off of the bridge. His eyes widened when he saw the lanterns by the bathhouse begin to light, and when he turned to look at the city, he noticed signs and the lights in the buildings light up. He turned back to the purple haired man, eyes narrowed. “Tell me what’s going on-  _ now. _ ”

“You need to return to the other side of the river, sir! Quickly!” The man said, continuing to push Link. “They will notice you are here! Please Mister, I’ll distract them while you return home!” The purple haired man shoved Link roughly, before he turned towards the bathhouse. 

With a scowl, Link turned away, running down the stairs frantically. Shadows bloomed from the lights of the buildings, forming into shapeless blobs that wondered around the streets, or sat at the seats by the stalls, feasting on the food that Link had seen previously. 

As he was passing by one of the stalls from earlier, he furrowed his brow when he witness one of the shapeless blobs hitting a pig with a fly swatter roughly, until the pig fell off the chair, landing on front of his feet. “Son of a-” With a grunt, he turned away, running back the way the he came.

Link ignored the shapeless form, panting as he shoved past them, passing by each building without a second thought. He needed to get out of, needed to get the  _ fuck out of this place _ -

The hero ran down the set of stairs he scraped his knees on early, before stopping abruptly. 

Water. There was nothing beyond this point but water. “Where the hell am I?” He said shakily, stumbling backwards, hitting his back against the frog statue he had passed the first time. Water seeped through the back of his tunic, and his stared at the frog statue in disgust when he turned to see that water was flowing steadily out of its mouth. 

He saw the building where he came from, across the large body of water that appeared out of thin air. 

Link felt something bubble up in his chest. He couldn’t swim- he didn’t fucking know  _ how _ to swim, god damnit. 

His hands clenched around the statute, not caring as the back of his tunic got drenched as he stared at the glowing lights of the city across of the water. He needed to get home, how was he supposed to get home?

A boat was approaching. That’s how. 

Link sucked in a breath, shaking his head. This wasn’t happening, there was no way this was happening, it was just another Koholint all over again. A whole ocean couldn’t appear out of nowhere-

“ _ Hylia _ - _ ”  _ Link shrieked when he glanced at his boots. They were- he shouldn’t be able to see the stairs beneath his feet. He brought his hands up to his face, stumbling back when he saw the boat through his hands. “It’s just another Koholint, you’re  _ fine _ , just wake something up, gotta wake something up and get the fuck outta here, this isn’t-”

The boat hit the staircase, and there was a wooden board that lowered. Link watched as floating sheets of paper exited the ship, and he felt his skin crawl when he noticed how large their shadows were. He watched as they left the boat, onto the staircase, and resisted the urge to run when he noticed red cloaks start to appear as well as the rest of their body the moment they got off the boat. 

His breathing staggered as he stumbled back, tripping over his feet. He landed on his ass, landing on his tailbone, sending jolts of pain throughout his body as he felt tears prickle the corners of his head. Link rubbed his eyes, watching as the spirits continued to get off the boat, paying no mind to him. 

He was on the grass now. He was on the grass on the verge of a panic attack. 

Breathing heavily, Link wiped his eyes once more, before running up the hill. He tried to hide his eyes, tried ot hide the fact that he was crying, but he could still see through his  _ fucking arm what the fuck- _

He stopped abruptly. The staircase ended there, yet he was still on the hill, stuck in the corner between the stars and a large red building. Great. Awesome. His heart beat fast, and sat down, huddled in the corner, hand over his heart. Link inhaled quickly, trying to breathe, trying to get air in his lungs, but it wasn’t  _ working- _ _  
_ _  
_ There was a pair of arms that wrapped over him, and Link screamed, before there was a hand that was quickly placed over his mouth to silence him. “Please don’t scream!” The purple haired ma from earlier said, as he pulled a berry out from  _ Hylia _ knows where. “I am only here to assist you, sir!”

“Fuck off!” Link said, his heart beat quickening. He felt tears streaming down his cheek, and his breathing quickened. He raised a leg up, intending to kick the purple haired man away, but gasped when his leg went  _ through _ the man instead. “ _ Oh my fucking- _ ”   
  
“You need to eat this, Mister!” The man said, inching closer to Link, cornering him. Link tried to push the man away, but his hands went through his chest, and Link sobbed. The man pressed his hands against the wall of the building, crouching over Link’s thighs as he used his other hand, the one holding the berry, up to Link’s mouth. The hero turned his head away, clenching his eyes shut. “Please Mister! Or else you’ll disappear!” The man insisted, pressing the berry against Link’s lips. 

That was convincing enough, apparently, as Link parted his mouth, and the man pushing the berry in, fingertips brushing against the hero’s lips. Link chewed it, wincing at the taste, before swallowing. 

He breathed heavily, actually feeling the weight of the man over his thighs now. Ah, right. He was sitting on top of Link. “Get off of me,” he hissed in between ragged breaths, pressing his hand against the mans chest. He glared, noticing that he was becoming tangible again, but didn’t mention. 

The man sighed, and was about to get off of Link’s lap, before he pressure Link further against the wall, one arm wrapping around Link to pull him against his chest, the placed against the wall to cover Link’s head, purple locks forming a curtain around them. “Don’t move,” he whispered. The only thing Link could see was the man on top of him. Unconsciously, he brought his legs up, and wordlessly placed his hands on the man's waist, watching as the man glanced up at the sky, watching something that Link couldn’t see. 

His fingers toyed with the fabric of the man's cloak, as he breathed shallowly. He was tired. Fuck, he was tired. “They’re looking for you, Mister,” the man said quietly, standing up. He held a hand out for Link to take. “Please hurry, we must get you out of here.” The man looked around nervously. 

Swallowing the lump in his throat, he grabbed the man's hand, holsting himself up. He moved to pull his hand from his grasp, but the man tightened refused to let go of Link’s hand as he began to run. 

“Fuck- slow down, dude,” Link grunted, stumbling behind him. The man didn’t pay attention to Link as they ran through tight alleyways, opening doors quickly and slamming them shut behind them just as fast. 

‘ _A_ _ shortcut _ ,’ Link thought to himself, frowning when he looked up at the bathhouse once more. 

“When we cross the bridge, do make sure you do not breathe, or else they will know you are here,” the man said softly, opening a gate for them to pass through. The bridge was right in front of them, crowded with spirits that Link saw come off of the boat. 

“Hey- wait, I need to get home man, not to some fucking bathhouse,” Link hissed, pulling the man towards him when he began to walk off, still holding his hand. Link glared at the man, who sighed. 

“Mister, I will get you back to your home as soon as I am able to, but at the moment I need you keep you at the bathhouse. You will be safe there until I am able to get you home,” he explained, looking back and forth between Link and the bridge anxiously. “Please trust me, sir.”

Link shifted from one foot to the other, biting his bottom lip, before he sighed loudly. “Fucking- whatever,  _ fine _ , lead the way.” The man smiled as he tugged Link behind him as they approached the bring, letting go of his hand, only to wrap his arm around Link’s waist and pull him flush against his side. Link placed his hand over the mans back, gripping his cloak tightly. 

“Take a deep breath, and do not breathe in until we are on the other side,” he instructed quietly into Link’s ear as they approached the bridge.

Link nodded, breathing in deeply, before plugging his nose with his free hand. He watched the people that passed by them, before glancing down, watching their feet. They were almost there. 

“Master Ravio!” A small, blue looking ghost shouted, appearing in front of them quickly. It adjusted its glasses, getting close to their face. “Where you been?” Link gasped loudly, coughing slightly, before he breathed in quickly, plugging his nose, as if hoping that he would still be unseen. The blue ghost looked startled. “What- a Hylian?”

Without hesitating, the man- Ravio, as the blue ghost had called him- waved his hand in front of the ghost, entrapping it in a small bubble. The ghost floating there, as if stuck in time, as Ravio quickly picked Link up in his arms bridal style, and Link mindlessly wrapped his arms around the mans neck. 

Ravio ran fast, and the wind flicked their hair around, before Ravio came to a stop in front of a tiny door in a fence, dropping down into a crouch. Link opened the door, and Ravio entered, kicking the door shut once he stood up. 

Link looked through the shoji of the bathhouse, watching the people run around, hearing the thump of their feet as Ravio sat down in front of a bush, placing Link in his lap, wrapping his arms tightly around the hero. “They know you are here, Mister.”

“I- sorry,” Link mumbled, looking through the shoji as best as he could from his position behind the bush in Ravio’s lap. He shifted uncomfortably, his hands close to his chest, trying his best not think of the fact that he was actually sitting in Ravio’s lap. “I didn’t mean to take a breath. The blue thing startled me.”

“It is alright, Mister, Hint is a…” Ravio paused in thought. “An interesting character. It is not your fault, you did the best that you could,” Ravio sighed, nodding slightly. He placed his hand on Link’s cheek, tilting the hero’s face towards him, and Link couldn’t help it when he felt his cheeks warm up. “Now, listen to carefully, Mister. I will need to leave you, and as I do this, you will go downstairs through the back until you are in the boiler moon,” Ravio explained, moving his hand up to Link’s forehead. His fingers pushed Link’s blonde slightly, before applying a bit of pressure against Link’s forehead. 

He was startled, to say the least, when he began to see what Ravio was instructing, but didn’t let it show on his face. “What do I do there?” Link whispered, raising his hand up to press grab at Ravio’s wrist, pulling it away from his forehead when he stopped seeing images of the bathhouse. 

“You should find the boiler man, Sheerow, there. He is a good friend of mine. Keep telling him that you want work here, and keeping asking that, even if he refuses you. You must get a job here, or else Yuga will do something horrendous to you.”

Link furrowed his brow. “Who the hell is Yuga?”

Ravio sighed. “He is the ruler of the bathhouse. Do not let Sheerow turn you away until you get to work, Mister.” Link granted internally. He was supposed to be on vacation, not to get trapped in some other world or in another dream and be put to work. His ears twitched slightly, hearing the people on the other side of the shoji looking for Ravio. “Yuga will not be able to touch you if you are able to get work, and I will assist you afterwards to return you home.”

“Alright,” Link murmured, nodding slowly. 

“I need to go, Mister.”

Link swallowed, cheeks flushing as he remembered this position. He placed his hands on the ground, lifting himself off from Ravio’s lap, pushing himself closer to the bushes. “You should get out of here now Ravio,” he said quietly, nodding his head in the direction of the shoji. “Before they come looking for you here.”

The purple haired man sighed, standing up. He brushed off any dirt that was on his cloak. “I will see you soon, Mister…”

“Link. My name- my name is Link.”

Ravio nodded. “Mister Link. Remember that I am your ally, Mister Link.” Ravio smiled at him, before turning to leave. “I’m here, I’m here! Please do stop creating such a ruckus-”

Link crawled away from the view of the shoji, tuning out the conversation between Ravio and the workers of the bathhouse. He needed to get out of here, needed to get to Sheerow so that he could get a job. 

The hero sigh, standing up once he knew no one could see him, before he began sprinting towards the back, down the stairs, and into the boiler room. 

He better get this fucking job or else he was gonna riot. 

* * *

The boiler room was hot and there was ugly ass walking soot balls on the ground that had limbs for some reason.

Link frowned at the soot balls as he tiptoed around them, trying his best not to bother them as they threw coal into a fire. The boiler man, Sheerow, was pushing at a wheel, and would occasionally just… have a weird ass white and blue bird come out of his shoulder to get some things out of a drawer that he would crunch up. 

“Hey! Bird brains!” Link shouted, cupping his hands around his mouth so his voice would project. Sheerow groaned in response, glancing at the blonde, before turning away. “I’m talking to you, at least be civil!” 

“You called me bird brains, I don’t gotta talk to you,” Sheerow grumbled, banging a wooden hammer against the wooden post he was sitting on. Link watched as the soot balls scurried into tiny holes in the ground, stopping the fire. 

Link scowled. “I want a job here!” He shouted, clenched his fists. 

Sheerow turned to Link, glaring at the man. “I don’t want some dumb Hylian working for me. Beat it, kid!” Sheerow turned around, banging his hammer against his seat once more when a token appeared in front of him, and the soot balls appeared once more, scurrying across the floor, coals in hand.

“Fuck off, I want to work!” 

“Like hell you do!” The bird that Sheerow had came up to him, flapping its wings at him impatiently. “Get outta the way!” Link huffed, moving to the side, watching as the bird began taking many things out of the drawers, before returning to Sheerow and disappearing into his shoulder. 

Link huffed, resisting the urge to just attack the man and steal  _ his  _ job. Ravio was a fucking liar, that’s for sure though. “Come onnnn, just give me a job!”

“I have all the workers I need, I don’t need someone incompetent,” Sheerow sighed, and the bird came out of Sheerow once more, only this time to caw and attack at Link, pecking at him relentlessly before stealing his hat. 

“Give that back!” Link swiped at the bird, attempting to get his hat back, and growled when the bird flew higher. “You’re a prick!” He pointed at sheerow, as he tried to jump at Sheerow, as if it would get his hat back.

Sheerow turned to point at Link, before flipping in him. “And you’re a dirty Hylian who’s trying to steal other people's jobs! Now get out!” 

“Yo, got food for ya birdie!” Link turned, still glaring, to see someone enter the room, a bowl of rice and chicken in one hand, and a basket filled with konpeito in the other. Link furrowed his brow, tilting his head curiously at the blonde man who wore a blue scarf. “Do you still have the bowl from the other day?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Sheerow grunted, taking the bowl from the blonde’s hand, replacing with an empty one. “It’s right here, go knock yourself out, Wars.”

The blonde, Wars, stuck his tongue out. “I should leave you down here to starve,” Wars joked, placing the dirty bowl on the ground. He eyed Link for a moment, before grabbing a handful of konpeito, chucking it at the soot balls, who eagerily munched it right up. Link watched as Wars continued the process of chunking the konpeito at the soot balls. Wars nose twitched, sniffing the air for a moment, before standing up abruptly. “You’re the Hylian everyone’s looking for!” He grabbed Link’s wrist, grasping tightening as his eyes narrowed. “Look, I don’t care where you came from, but you’re in for-”

Sheerow didn’t bother turning, and Link scrunched his face up in disgust when he could hear the man chewing loudly as he spoke. “That’s my grandson, Wars, don’t push him around too much. He just wants a job, do me a favor and bring him to Yuga?” 

“What!? I don’t want a Hylian trailing after me, I’m busy,” Wars grunt, dumping the rest of the konpeito onto the ground for the soot balls. “Why can’t you do it?” He grumbled to himself, picking up the Sheerow’s dirty dishes. 

“I still have a job to do, kid, you were just on a food run. Get blondie to Yuga so he can get a job.” Sheerow turned to Wars, and smiled at the man as he held out a roasted newt. “How about this for an exchange? Hm?”

Wars snatched the roasted newt out of Sheerow’s hand, tucking it into his uniform. “Fine, but you owe me,” Wars said, glaring at Sheerow’s back. The man just waved at him behind his back, and Wars sighed, turning to Link with a raised brow. “Come on kid, before I change my mind and turn you in.”

“Someone's got a stick up their ass,” Link said, following Wars.

Wars turned ot Link, turning his nose up. “Have you never been into a bathhouse or something? Take your boots off, you animal.” Wars placed a hand against his hip.

Link granted. “Is everyone here a pretentious asshole?” He asked aloud, not really expecting an answer. He left his boots and socks by the soot balls, watching as they dragged it into their holes. Guess he wasn’t gonna get that back. 

“If you want a job, you’re gonna have to make a deal with Yuga. Don’t be stupid about it,” Sheerow said, banging his mallot once more against his seat. The seat balls picked up the chunks of coal. 

“Whatever, bird brains,” Link said, following Wars out of the boiler room.

“What’s your name kid?” Wars asked as they entered and exited multiple elevators, slowly making their way up to the top floor. When the doors opened, they were greeted by a large man, with markings covering half of his face, his hair hanging over his eyes. “Ah! Time- The fairy spirit!” Wars grinned, bowing slightly. “What can I do for you, sir?” Time moved his hands for a moment, before gesturing upwards, mouth moving, despite no words exiting. The fairy didn’t seem to notice Link’s presence. “Ah- sorry, this elevator doesn’t go any higher, you’ll have to find another one, thank you.” Wars grabbed Link from the back of his tunic, dragging him forward and towards another elevator. 

Link glanced at the fairy spirit, frowning when he noticed him following them. He sighed, facing forward. “Don’t worry about, scarfy,” he said. No reason to give his name out. He wasn’t going to be here long anyways. 

Wars huffed. “You try to be nice one time to some stranger, and this is the thanks you get,” he murmured to himself, weaving in between patrons and workers of the bathhouse with ease. Link stumbled behind him, scowling when people bumped into him.

“You do know that fairy man is following us, right?” Link whispered, unconsciously stepping closer to Wars.

The blonde frowned, sighing slightly as he adjusted his hold on the dishes. “Show some respect, kid, he’s a guest,” he whispered back, pressing the button to summon the elevator. Time came to a stop by them as they waited for the doors of the elevator to slide open. 

“Step to the right, please, gentlemen.” Wars pushed himself against Link, shoving the hero into a corner and covering the Hylian with his body as spirits left the elevator. “Your rooms are right this way.” Wars sighed, placing a hand on Link’s shoulder, about to enter the elevator. “Warriors?” 

Warriors quickly shoved Link into the elevator, causing the man to stumble in as the fairy spirit walked in after him. “What do you want Wild?” He grunted, placing his hands on his hips. 

Wild sniffed the air, coming closer to Warriors, his long hair shifting over his shoulders as he tilted his head. “Why do you smell like that?” He furrowed his brow in thought. “It smells like Hylian- you smell like a Hylian, Warriors,” he said, frowning. 

“You think so?” Warriors said, lifting his scarf up to sniff it. “I don’t smell anything, think you might be delusional, champ.”

Wild scrunched up his nose, sniffing the air once more. “No, I swear you smell like Hylian, Wars. Come on, tell me? Please? I know you’re hiding something, especially since everyone’s looking for that-”

Warriors sighed, reaching into his uniform to pull out the roasted newt. “Sheerow gave me this earlier, think this might be what you smell?” He asked, waving it in front of Wild’s face. 

Wild’s eyes widened, quickly going to snatch the newt from Warriors' hand, but he moved his hand up quickly. “Hey! Come on Wars, please share?”

“No way! I worked for this, it’s all mine!” Wars grinned as he continued to wave the roasted newt in front of Wild, the younger of the two attempting to steal it from Wars, failing at each attempt. Warriors laughed as Wild started jumping when he raised his arm up higher, getting the roasted newt out of Wild’s reach. “Pull the lever on your right to go higher!”

The fairy spirit nodded, and Link snuck around Time to pull the lever. He wanted as Warriors ate the roasted newt, and Wild groan in disappointment, while the elevator doors closed in front of him, leaving him and Time to their own devices momentarily. 

The ascend to the upper floors was filled with deafening silence, and Link rubbed his arms awkwardly. When the doors opened once more, it revealed more shoji doors and silhouettes, loud voices booming throughout the floor.

The fairy spirit sighed, before he pulled the lever, the doors shutting as they continued to go up. 

When they reached the top floor, Link stepped out, looking around the floor. It was empty and quiet, unlike the floor they were just at. The fairy spirit peaked out, looking down both hallways, before looking down at Link, and bowing slightly. 

Swallowing, Link bowed at Time, watching as the fairy spirit pulled the lever once more, and he disappeared from his sight when the elevator doors closed. 

The floor was heavily decorated, and Link couldn’t help but be in awe at the sight of all the colors that were mixed and clashing against each other. Everything looked great, like they all fit together perfectly. A little too perfectly, but he wasn’t going to dwell on that. He had a job to get. For some reason. 

Link pressed forward, coming upon burgundy doors. He rolled his eyes at how large the doors were, before grabbing the door, pushing on it. 

“Aren’t you going to knock?” Link stumbled back, gasping when he saw the door knocker talk, its own eyes rolling. “Such a disrespectful little boy.” 

“I resent that,” Link said to himself, watching as door after door opened by itself. The theatrics were a bit much. He walked forward carefully, before he heard a sigh.

“You’re very slow, aren’t you?” Any sigh, before Link felt something grab at his chest, something tightening and bunching up the front of his tunic, before he was roughly dragged forward, weaving through hallways, doors slamming shut behind up, before he was propelled forward, rolling before he hit his back against a pillar in the room. 

He gasped, pressing a hand against his back as he sat up, examining the room, before turning to face a man that was watching him from behind a desk. ‘ _ That must be Yuga.’ _

There were four men, who are looked alike, yet wore different colors (blue, red, green, and violet, respectively) that came up to him, and lifted him up to his feet. “Thanks,” he said, and the four blondes nodded at him, smiling widely before running off, chasing each other. 

Link watched as the man wrote something down on a piece of paper, before putting it aside in a bin, continuing to write something else down. Link frowned. “I want a job.”

Yuga paused, glancing up at Link. “You want a job?” He repeated, before laughing to himself, continuing to write something down. “The Hylian wants a job,” he snorted, before pointing a finger at Link. 

“ _ Yes _ , I want to wo-” Yuga flicked his finger at Link, cutting the man off. Link pressed his hand over his throat, moving his lips as he tried to say something, yet nothing came out. He glared daggers at Yuga, who laughed to himself.

“What a funny joke. Did Warriors set you up for this?” Yuga asked, going back to writing. “This is obviously a prank Warriors would do, bastard enjoys playing pranks sometimes, sure does have the balls on pulling one on me though,” Yuga said to himself, tapping his fingers against his desk. Link narrowed his eyes at all the rings that the man was wearing. 

Yuga sighed when he noticed Link still trying to talk to him, watching as the hero gestured wildly. “You do know this is a bathhouse, right? A place where spirits come to replenish themselves and relax. No place for a Hylian, al they do is stink up the place and ruin things, like that family who ate all the food set out for the spirits.” Yuga placed his pen down, and put a bag into a small contained, closer it with a quick snap. He turned his attention back to Link, drumming his fingers against his desk. “Was it Warriors that did this? Do tell, Hylian,” Yuga said, and he flicked his fingers once more. 

“I want to fucking work here!” Link shouted, clenching his hands by his side. 

“Oh, don’t start that again!”

“Just give me a job!”

“Don’t say that-” Yuga shouted, pressing his hand against his forehead, before appearing in front Link, eyes narrowed at the hero as he grabbed a fistful of Link’s tunic, pulling him close as he stared down at him. “Why in the hell do you think that I should give you a job?” Yuga hissed, his other hand coming up to Link’s throat, fingers tightening around his windpipe. “No one likes a dirty, snotty, lazy Hylian, and even if I made you work to your last breath, you wouldn’t get anything done.” 

Link grabbed at Yuga’s wrist, trying to pry it away as he glared up at Yuga, refusing to back down until the man decided to give him a job, no matter how long it took. 

Which apparently wouldn’t be too long if the sudden crying form the other room was anything to go by. There was banging against the door, and Link was bewildered when he saw it break, and a red balloon come out through the hole, the crying never ceasing. “You woke up my baby!” Yuga whisper-shouted, throwing Link aside and onto the ground as he went to comfort his son, moving curtains aside as he talked to the child.

Link rolled his eyes at Yuga’s baby voice as he consoled his son. “Are you gonna give me a job now?” He asked, placing a hand against his hip. 

“I said no! Now leave, you’re upsetting the baby!” Yuga shouted, and Link chuckled to himself when he saw another red balloon come up through the door, smacking Yuga in the face. “There there, it’s okay, nothing to worry about-”

“I’m not fucking leaving till you give me a job!” Link shouted once more. The four from earlier came back, and were running around him, before the one he elected to call Blue decided to stop running, knocking the rest of them over when they bumped into him. Link snorted. 

“Okay! Okay, just quiet down!” Yuga shouted back at Link. He quickly walked into the room, and Link heard Yuga talking to the crying baby. 

Rolling his eyes, he sat down, watching as Four (which he decided to call them that cause there was four of them) continued to play around. Red pushed Blue to the ground, and Green and Violet jumped on top of them. 

When Link saw a piece of paper and a pen start floating towards him, he stood up, grabbing it out of the air. He couldn’t read it, it wasn’t in any Hylian dialect he understood. 

“That’s your contract,” Yuga said, walking back into the room. He looked like a mess and sounded exhausted as he took a sat back from behind his desk. “Sign it and you’ll get a job.” Yuga was wavering his hands around, and the mess around him was slowly tidying itself up. “One complaint, and I’ll do whatever I want with you, understood?”

“Yeah, yeah,” Link grumbled. Even though he couldn’t read this, he still knew where to sign it. It was obvious. Sighing, he wrote his name down, letting his hands drop as the pen and paper floated back to Yuga. 

The paper landed in his hands as he leaned against his hand, his elbow propped up on the desk. “Hmm, Link, such a lovely name, your parents must’ve thought long and hard about that name,” he said, placing the paper. Link watched as Yuga clenched his hand over the paper, before opening. He furrowed his brow, watching in confusion as Hylian characters lifted from the paper floating up to Yuga’s hand, while some characters floating down from his hands and onto the piece of paper. Yuga clenched his hand around the Hylian characters, before he leaned back with a sigh, rubbing his forehead. “Your name belongs to me now. Your name is Legend from here on ought, do you understand, Legend?”

The hero swallowed, before nodding quickly. “Yeah- yeah, I got it,” he said quietly, brow furrowing. 

“You called, Mister Yuga?” The blonde turned his head, brow raising when he saw Ravio. 

“This boy here signed a contract, set him up with a job. Preferably with Warriors, that brat,” Yuga grumbled to himself as he began to write once more. “Get out of my sight now, Ravio.”

“Alright, Mister Yuga. What is your name, sir?” Ravio turned to face the hero with a tilt of his head. 

“It’s Lin- Legend. My name is Legend.”

“Legend.” Ravio clicked his tongue against the roof of his month, before nodding. “Yes, follow me then, Mister Legend.”

Legend nodded wordlessly. 

Ravio felt different, compared to when they first met, but Legend didn’t dwell on it. He couldn’t, not when he was closer to getting home.

* * *

“I don’t care if Yuga yells at me, I’m not taking him!” One of the members of the bathhouse shouted, covering their nose. 

“He’s not sleeping in our room!” Many other workers murmured in agreement. They all had their noses covered, mumbling something about how nasty Hylian’s smelled. 

Ravio sighed. “Misty Legend has already signed a contract with Yuga, like it or not, he has already gotten a position here.”

“What!” Many of the workers groaned. 

“Enough!” Ravio shouted, before he rubbed his forehead. “He will work with you, and if his work is not satisfactory, then do what you want with him. Feed him to the pigs, roast him, whatever you guys want.” The groaning from the workers lessened, and some were nodding at the idea. Ravio sighed once more. “Where’s Warriors!?” He yelled, looking amongst the crowd of people and frogs.

“Oh yeah, give him to Warriors, that’ll turn out  _ great _ ,” one of the workers said, brushing past Legend, shoulder checking the hero in the process. Legend grunted, and glared at the back of the worker. 

“Come on!” Warriors groaned, stepping forward and up to where Ravio and Legend. “Why are you sticking the Hylian with me for? I didn’t do shit!”

“I recall you requesting for an assistant,” Ravio placed his hand on Legend’s shoulder, pushing the hero into Warriors. Legend stumbled, and Warriors grabbed onto Legend’s arm, hoisting him up so the hero wouldn’t fall on his face. “There’s your assistant. Maybe now you’ll be able to finish cleaning a tub without taking all day,” ravio scoffed, turning away. 

“Hey!” Warriors shouted in complained, placing his hands on his hips.

“Get back to work everyone!” Ravio shouted, leaving to go into the elevator. Legend assumed that the man was going to go back up to Yuga’s room. 

Warriors tisked. “What’s his problem?” Warriors grumbled, grabbing onto Legend’s arm once more as he dragged the man off into one of the hallways, leading him off somewhere. It wasn’t until they were far away from where the tubs where did Warriors let go of Legend’s arm, and turn around to face him. 

“I can’t believe you actually got the job!” Warriors said, grinning. “I worried you were gonna get turned to a frog, you dope,” Warriors laughed, slapping Legend on the back. “Your name is Legend, right? That’s what Ravio said.”

“Uh- yeah, yeah, it’s Legend,” he mumbled, scratching his head. He had a headache. There was something itching at the back of his mind telling him that that wasn’t his name, but fuck, he  _ knew _ it was, he didn’t-  _ couldn’t _ have had any other name besides Legend. 

Warriors was pulling shirts out of a cupboard, humming. “You’re kinda short and small, we don’t have a lot of people with that kind of figure around here,” Warriors said, holding a shirt up to Legend. He made a low, missing sound. “Way too big for a shrimp like you,” he said, chucking the shirt off to the side. 

Hylia, what was his name? It wasn’t Legend, it didn’t feel right, why didn’t it feel right? Legend crouched, pressing his head against his knees, groaning as he curled around his clothes. This didn’t feel right- none of this felt right to him. His body felt weird, like it wasn’t his, like he was just borrowing it from someone momentarily. Fucking Hylia. 

“Oh- Legend? Hey, what’s wrong, you okay, kid?” Warriors asked, crouching next to Legend, rubbing his back gently in small circles. Legend continued to groan, crying softly as his headache worsened. 

Someone else in the room groaned, sitting up. They had a mark on their forehead, revealing it when he pushed his head baack, before rubbing his eyes. “Warriors what’s going- what’s his problem?” The man groaned, watching Warriors rub Legend’s back.

Warriors sighed. “It’s the new kid Twilight, he doesn’t feel so good.”

“Did he eat yet?”

“No, I think he should just get some sleep, should feel better after that,” Warriors said softly, pulling Legend against him. “Hey it’s okay, you’ll feel better in no time.” 

“Yeah, don’t worry about it kiddo,” Twilight said, giving him a thumbs up before laying back down.

Legend groaned once more.

He sat, crouched there in Warriors embrace before the man got up to lay blankets out for him to sleep on. Warriors tucked him in, and told him not to worry about it. Whatever ‘it’ was. 

Legend dreamed of salt water and a girl with red hair that night. 

* * *

When Legend woke up, his eyes were crusty and he struggled with opening them. There were tear stains on his cheeks, and his body felt heavy, the sheets drowning him, trying to pull him back to the dream that he long ago. He breathed in shakily.

Hylia, his headache from earlier was still beating itself against skull, and the feeling that something wasn’t right made his already bad mood worse. The dream about Marin and Koholint didn’t help his shitty situation at the moment either. He just wished that things had gone different and that he didn’t even wake up the Wind Fish.

Legend sighed, burrowing his head into his pillow. Thinking about Koholint made his heartache, and being in this spirit world, as Ravio and Warriors called it earlier, made head hurt. This was all way too much.

The sound of the shoji opening slowly made Legend’s skin crawl, and he shut his eyes, trying his best toe even out his breathing so he appeared asleep. The sound of blankets being stepped on made his ears twitch slightly.

There was a hand against his cheek, and lips by his ears, feeling the heat of the person’s breath against his lobe. “Meet me at the bridge tomorrow morning, Mister Legend.” It was Ravio’s voice. Great. He relaxed against his pillow, listening as Ravio exited the room, sliding the shoji shut behind him.

Legend sighed loudly. What a prick. 

* * *

When Legend woke up again, the sun was beginning to rise, and a couple people that he shared the room with were already gone. Warriors was still there, snoring quietly next to him. 

Sighing, he sat up, gathering the pink uniform that he couldn’t decide if he liked or despised. It was some middle ground between the two. At least it complimented his pink strand of hair, he could appreciate that at least. 

Slipping the uniform over his blue apron, he stood up, tying it around his waist as he made his way out of the room. He was careful to walk on his tiptoes, trying not to step on anyone or make too much noise. When he left the room, he adjusted his pants, retying the strings as he made his way downstairs, down to the boiler room. 

Walking down the wooden stairs was as nerve wracking as the last time, but at least ht wasn’t running down it as fast as he could and slamming his face against the wall. 

Legend entered the boiler room quietly, checking to see if the boiler man was awake or not. He sighed. Sheerow was asleep. Good. He didn’t feel like talking to his ‘grandpa’ anyways. 

Sitting on the edge, his feet brushed the concrete, the chill making him frown as he looked around for his boots, brow furrowing. “Hey,” he whispered, turning the holes where he knew the soot balls lived. He swallowed. “I know you’re there soot boys, what’d you do with my boots?”

The soot balls blinked at him, before scurrying out from their place, his boots in hand. He sighed in relief. “Thanks guys,” he murmured, taking his boots from their small hands. They made high pitched noises, and Legend patted them gently before putting his boots on, lacing them up quickly. 

Going up the wooden stairs slowly this time was much better than running down them and almost breaking his face against the wall, and he was grateful for that. 

Leaving the way he came, it was weird experiencing something he would deem a nightmare in broad daylight. Hm. 

When he came upon the bridge, there was a strange, shadowy figure standing in the middle, staring at him. Legend bowed his head, apologizing silently when he ran past the shadowy figure, not being to see if it was still looking at him. 

“Good morning, Mister Legend.”

“Ravio,” Legend said, huffing. “What the fuck was that last night?”

“Pardon?”

“You were being an asshole, dude.”

Ravio huffed, before opening a gate, gesturing for Legend to follow him. Apricot flowers, camellias, rhododendrons, and oleanders surrounded him, the smell wafting around him. Legend moved gently, maneuvering around the flowers in an attempt to avoid brushing his body against them. Ravio was moving too fast around the flowers with ease, and Legend couldn’t help but feel a  _ little _ salty about it. 

They came to a stop in front of a few growing vegetables, in front of one of the huge walls of flowers, and Legend sat down, panting slightly. Ravio stood by him, hands tucked into the sleeves of his cloak.

Legend stared off, sighing occasionally, too entranced by his thoughts of  _ ‘what the fuck was going on _ ’, when he felt Ravio nudged his shoulder gently. “Here, your clothes and items from your home, Mister Legend,” Ravio said, crouching so that he could sit next to the man. “Make sure no one finds them.”

Legend hummed, taking the items from Ravio tenderly, looking through everything. He forgot he brought his bag with him, forgot about his hat and tunic. He placed his clothes aside, looking through his bag, examine everything. There was a name, embroidered on the inside of it on the side. “Link.” Legend licked his lips. “Link, Link, Link,” he repeated, the name foreign to his lips. His brow furrowed. “Is that… this is my name,” he said quietly, tracing over the embroidery. His head ached momentarily. “I forgot my name.”

Ravio nodded. “That is how Yuga controls some members of the bathhouse, by taking their names or their titles. Hide it, and do not forget that your name is Link, but keep referring to yourself as Legend at the bathhouse.”

“Is that how you’re still here?” Legend asked, raising his brow. “Did he take your name?”

Ravio nodded, before frowning. “He took my title, not my name. Yuga says when he found me I was a travelling merchant, but it doesn’t feel right. I can’t remember what I actually was, before I started working for Yuga.”

“Let me help you then, I can trying to help you remember who you were before-”

Ravio sighed, pulling food out from his pocket. “No need to, Mister Legend. I just want you to go home, no need for you to help me,” he said, handing Legend an onigiri. “Here you go, you must be very hungry, sir.”

“No, I’m good Ravio-”

“Please,” Ravio insisted, shaking his hand slightly, as if it would make the onigiri more appetizing. “It will give you your strength back. You have just woken up as well, you haven’t had breakfast yet.”

Legend sighed, but took the onigiri, biting it gently, some rice sticking to his lips. He breathed in, taking another bite. He remembered when Marin would find him by the beach, tired and shaking after going through another temple, and she would give him something to eat, along with a potion and a kiss. They would talk for hours on the beach, talking about what to do after he was done with the adventure, about the places he would take her after he woke the Wind Fish up. Marin would talk about all the songs she knew and about the people of Koholint, talking about how lucky she was to meet Legend. 

The hero sniffled, wiping his eyes as he continued to take faster bites of the onigiri, finishing it quickly, sobs leaving his throat, escaping past some of the rice had had yet to finish chewing, before he swallowed. He licked the rice off of his hands away, and Ravio offered him the last two onigiri’s, which he gladly took, alternating between taking bites out of the two, ignoring the mess of rice that ended up on his face, or fell onto the grass. He ignored the tears streaming down his face, ignored the memories of Marin, and focused on just eating, focused on Ravio, who wrapped an arm around over his shoulder, and was rubbing his arm gently. Link cried around the bites of onigiri he took, but pressed on, continuing to eat, the taste of rice and salt on his lips strong. He leaned against Ravio, nearly choking as another sob racked his throat.

“Fuck,” Legend whispered to himself, chewing quickly. “ _ Fuck _ .” 

The sob and hiccups that left his throat was ignored by both himself and Ravio, as he finished the onigiris. The two stayed there for who knows how long, with Legend crying in Ravio’s embrace, while Ravio tried his best to comfort the hero. 

* * *

“Warriors, Legend, you guys get the big tub.”

Warriors groaned, throwing his rag into bucket full of water. “Are you kidding? Make the frogs do it, it’s their job to do that kind of shit.”

The man shrugged, but grinned. “Orders from the top, quit complaining and do it.” Legend scowled, glaring at the man as he wrung his rag, rolling his pant legs back up when it began to fall down again. He  _ thought _ that with his experience as a hero, he would be able to do simple work like cleaning floors, but the way Warriors and the others were doing it, it was no surprise when Legend kept slipping and almost breaking his face. 

Warriors sighed, wiping the sweat off his brow as he picked his rag back up, wringing it out. “Dump the water out kid,” he instructed, scratching his cheek. “Jeez, the big tub? Seriously?” He mumbled to himself.

Legend nodded, picking up the bucket of water. He made his way to the Shoji, careful not to fall, as he set it down, opening it up, before he began to pour the water out, sighing. Legend glanced up, pushing his hair back, before furrowing his brow. “You… you’re the shadowy figure from earlier,” he said quietly.

The figure tilted its head, but nodded. 

“Do you- are you a customer?” He asked, picking the bucket up. The figure didn’t move, and Legend sighed, hearing Warriors calling for him. “Calm down scarfy, I’m coming!” He shouted, before turning back to the figure. It was raining harshly. Legend groaned, looking up for a bit in thought, before looking back at the figure, pointing at him. “I’m leaving the door open, make sure you close it when you get in.”

Legend walked off to where he knew Warriors was, not bothering to look back to see if the spirit had entered the bathhouse or not. 

* * *

The big tub was fucking disgusting and Legend would literally rather fight Ganondorf again than clean this. Legend heard some frogs from the other, much smaller baths, laughing behind their backs. He huffed, trying his best not to slip, but of course he did, which provoked *more* laughter from the frogs. Legend turned to glare at them. 

“They haven’t cleaned this tub in mouths,” Warriors groaned, pushing his hair back. “Fucking jerks.”

The floor and the tub was covered in muck and what Legend assumed to be grass. Legend found it more efficient to just scoop it up in his arms and rush to where they were gathering it before throwing it out, meanwhile Warriors was just pushing it into the pile with the broom. 

When they had the floor cleaned and mopped, which took *way* too much time in Legend's opinion, they worked on cleaning the outside of the tub. It didn't take as much time to clean the outside of the tub, but when they jumped to go inside the big tub (and Legend almost screamed when he thought he almost twisted his ankle), it was worse inside than outside. 

"This is gonna take forever," Warriors grunted, scrubbing at the muck of the tub quickly. "It's covered in so much gross shit. Only our really filthy guests get this tub, so all the muck is just caked onto each other," the blonde explained. He sighed, letting his arms fall to his side. There was some shouts from someone, saying something about guests waiting to use the big tug. "Alright!" Warriors shouted, tossing his rag against the ground. "This is fucking harassment, bunch of assholes. We should just let it soak."

"With what?" Legend scoffed, not ceasing as he tried to scrub the tub clean.

Warriors slapped at Legend's arms, before cupping his hands together for Legend to step on. Taking the hint, Legend stepped onto Warriors conjoined hands, and the man boosted Legend up. Legend grabbed at the edge of the tub, and hoisted himself over it, rolling down. He didn't hit is head, thankfully. He saw Warriors peak over the tub. "Go to the foreman, he's like, the manager. His name is Sky. Ask him for a herbal soak token, should get this cleaned up real nice."

"A what token?"

"Herbal soak token."

"Uh, okay. Am I supposed to get it?" Legend asked, watching as Warriors began to just scrub the edges of the tub. 

"Yeah? Why do you think I threw you over the tub, genius," Warriors said, laughing a bit. "Hurry up though, before Yuga comes down and yells at us to hurry up."

"Got it." Legend nodded, running out of the room, ignoring the heads of his coworkers peaking out to watch him as he ran past them to get to the foreman. 

"Relax, good morning! Have a nice bath! Good morning!" 

This dude was super preppy, and Legend couldn't blame him. He'd be ecstatic about handing out bath tokens if it meant he didn't have to clean another tub in his life. "Hey, I need a herbal bath token."

The Foreman, Sky, glanced down at him with a tilt of his head. "Sorry, but I can't just hand them out. Relax! Good morning," Sky grinned at the customers that passed him, handing out the bath tokens to them with ease. Legend glowered when Sky turned his attention back to him, sympathy etched across his face. "Sorry guy, maybe scrub harder."

"Warriors said-"

"I don't care what Warriors said," Sky sighed, rubbing his eyes. "He always used a bath token, I can't waste anymore on that guy. Good morning! Have a nice bath!" Sky's smile seemed contagious judging by how many patrons were grinning after receiving their bath token. "I'm really sorry, guy."

Legend huffed, crossing his arms. He needed that herbal soak token. Maybe if he was fast enough he could jump up and steal one.

There was a girl that stepped up, wearing a different uniform than he was. "For the fairy spirit," she said quietly, palm out, already expecting the token. 

"One sulfur soak, coming right up," Sky said, handing her the bath token. He turned to look back at Legend, brow furrowed. "You're wasting time standing there. I'm not giving you a bath token."

"But it has to have a herbal soak!"

"I don't care!" Sky said, exasperated. "You need to scrub it yourself. Warriors can't keep relying on bath tokens, I'm not giving it to you. Relax! Good morning! Seriously, just start scrubbing it, guests are waiting."

Legend seethed, and was actually about to attack the man and steal the token, before he saw the shadowy figure from earlier appear. He felt his anger dissipated slightly, watching as the figure pointed at the bath tokens. He nodded. 

The phone rang, and Sky picked it up. "Good morning! Foreman speaking," he looked back at Legend, making a small 'shooing' gesture, before his eyes widened, watching as a bath token lifted up in the air, and landing at Legend's hands. 

"Thanks Sky!" Legend grinned, running back to the big tub, hearing Sky stutter to himself, before returning to the phone call with a sigh. 

When Legend came back to the big tub, he just saw Warriors sitting by the wall, studying his nails. Legend chucked it at the blonde, smacking him in the face. "Fucking hell, Legend," Warriors grunted, rubbing his forehead as he picked the token up. "Wow! You got a good one," he said, standing up. He pulled at something in the wall, making it pop out, before he grabbed a string, clipping the bath token to it. "This goes to Sheerow, and then we get some water." He pulled at the string, and Legend watched as it zipped up, before another part of the wall that was higher up began to lower itself down. There was a string attached, and Warriors climbed up the tub, grabbing it. "Pull on this bad boy and it starts the water. Give a yank, Leg."

"Never call me that again or else I'm stealing your kneecaps," Legend grunted, pulling at the string that Warriors offered him. The water started quickly, and Legend watched as it began to fill the tub. "What's in that?"

"Dried worm salts. Supposed to be really good for you, but I never tried it before," Warriors said, shrugging. He jumped off of the tub, huffing slightly. "Y'know, you can let go of the rope, it's not gonna stop. Just yank it again once it's filled. Water so murky, you don't get to see how gross it is. I'm gonna get us some breakfast, so sit tight."

Legend sighed. "Alright, I'll just keep cleaning or whatever," he said to himself, sliding down the tub. He was about to go sit down by the wall where Warriors was, but the shadowy figure from earlier was standing in the corner silently. He furrowed his brow, ignoring the warning bells that went off in his head. "Are you lost or something? Can I help you?" He asked, stepping closer to the figure warily. 

The figure reached their hands out to Legend, and he furrowed his brow, hearing the figure make a few noises. It was a high pitch- a girl?- as she shook her hands, rattling the bath tokens together. "Wow, that's a lot," he said to himself, picking a bath token up to examine it, before placing it back down in the pile that the shadowy figure had. "Sorry, I don't need these anymore." The figure made a few more noises, before she sighed, and slowly disappeared, letting the tokens fall to the floor. "Jeez, what- fuck!" Legend shouted, forgetting about the tokens when he felt water brushed against his feet, before pushing the tokens away. 

He ran towards the tub, quickly get to the top of it so that he could yank on the string, sighing in relief when the water stopped. He slid down once more, and began to collect the tokens, placing it in the empty bucket where his and Warriors' supplies were. What a mess.

"Everybody! Go back to your own rooms!"

"What the fuck?" Legend peaked out from behind the shoji, brows furrowing when he watched people running around, frogs holding lanterns and directing his coworkers away. The foreman from earlier, Sky, came up to him. "What's going on?" Legend asked, exiting the room. 

"Yuga wants to see you." 

Legend stiffened, but followed the foreman, trying to will himself to relax. He could've sworn he was doing fine, could've sworn that he wasn't doing anything that, that he worked as best as he could and didn't annoy his coworkers. Twilight didn't seem to mind when he accidentally woke the man up, and no one saw him when he went to see Ravio and cried in front of some flowers. 

"Legend! Don't mess this up for us!" Yuga shouted when he saw Sky and Legend approaching. Legend frowned. "Take out guest to the big tub, take care of him, make sure he gets everything he needs."

"What about-"

"Stop talking before I turn you into a painting," Yuga threatened, before he pinched the bridge of his nose. 

"The stink spirit's here," Sky said, plugging his nose, before running off, other workers of the bathhouse following suit, leaving on Legend and Yuga to welcome their guest. 

Legend gagged, covering his mouth. Yuga quickly grabbed his wrist, yanking his hand away from his mouth. "Show some respect or else you'll insult our guest," he hissed, glaring at Legend as the stink spirit entered. Yuga forced a smile. "Welcome to our bathhouse!" The stink spirit slowly reached a hand out, shaking it slightly. "Oh! Money! Legend, please take the nice mans money!" 

"Y-yes sir!" He blinked quickly, trying his best not to breathe in through his nose as he reached his hands out, letting the stink spirit drop the money into his hands. Legend wanted nothing more than to just chuck the money at Yuga and ran into the river to cleanse himself as he felt muck slip through his fingers and drip onto his toes. 

"Don't make him wait, Legend, take him to the baths."

Legend bowed his head, before he began the trek to where the big tub was. "Follow me, please," he said quietly, hoping that the stink spirit heard him. 

"Legend!" The hero turned his head to glance at Warriors, who was holding a bowl of rice, and he forced a smile as he continued his way to the big tub, the stink spirit following behind him slowly. He heard Warriors yell at someone, but was too busy trying to make sure none of the muck fell onto his feet again. 

When they entered the room with the big tub, Legend made his way towards the bucket filled with the bath tokens, picking it up gently so the sludge from the stink monster wouldn't touch him. He groaned internally when he felt the sludge and dirty water cover everything from the waist down, staining his pants and lower part of his shirt brown. He wanted to puke, but pushed the urge down. "Just a minute, sir," he shouted, lifting the bucket up above his head as he made his way to where he saw Warriors use the bath token. 

He banged against the walls, trying to get the wall to open up, and sighed in relief when after a few attempts he got it to open. Setting the bucket down, he picked up one of the many bath tokens, trying to hook it up. The first few tries he kept dropping the bath token down to who knows where, the token slipping between his fingers. "Thank fucking Hylia," he said to himself when he finally got the token attached, and he pulled it gently, watching as it zipped up. 

Legend began to make his way towards the bath tub, towards the stink spirit, where he could pull on the string. He could hear people talking above him, knew that they were watching him, and he sighed as he began to climb up to tub. It was much harder with the sludge, and it was covering most of his clothes now, some of it getting on his face and hair. His arms were covered in it. 

He grabbed the string and swallowed the lump in his throat, before he tugged on it. "Shit!" Legend shouted, slipping into the tub.

He heard the water start, and was glad that at least he didn't have to climb back up and attempt to pull it again. The water poured over him and the stink spirit, and he tried his best to swim up to the surface, only to get pushed down once more from the water. Legend gasped, water sliding down his throat, and he placed his hand over his mouth, his chest burning, blinking wildly as he tried to surface the water once more. 

He felt himself being lifted up by the stink spirit, and he gasp, coughing harshly and puking out water when he was finally able to breathe in air. Legend rubbed his eyes, swallowing when he saw that he was clean, along with his clothes, no trace of any of the muck. 

"What are you-" Legend mumbled, as the stink spirit brought him closer to his body, instead of placing Legend down like the hero expected. Furrowing his brow, he stuck his head into still running water, trying to open his eyes. His eyes widened when he saw something sticking out of its side. He brought his head out, gasping for air. 

"Legend!" The hero turned to see Warriors, a mask over his face and a broom and other cleaning utensils with him. "I'm coming to help you, just- stay were you are, don't worry, kid. If he hurts you, I'll take care of you, you'll be fine I promise."

"There's something stuck in his side!" Legend shouted, wrapping his hands around the object. He tugged at it, but it didn't move. "He needs help! It won't come out!" He tugged once more. 

"What do you mean something's stuck in his side!?" Warriors shouted back as he made his way towards Legend, hoisting himself onto the edge of the tub. He placed his hand on Legend's shoulder, and used his other hand to grab onto what Legend said was sticking out of his side. He furrowed his brow, tugging slightly. "How do we get it out?" He asked. 

"Fuck if I know!" Legend yelled, pulling.

"Listen to me!" Legend and Warriors glanced to the side where Yuga was floating by them, as the man made a rope manifest. "That's not a stink spirit. Use this rope!" He tossed the rope towards Legend, and the hero almost missed it. 

Legend winced as he tried to tie the rope around the object, but Warriors quickly took over, placing his hand over Legend's before taking the rope, wrapping it around the object. "Hold on tight," Warriors said, pulling at the rope gently to make sure it wouldn't came undone. 

Legend felt the rope lift up slightly. "Everyone ready on my command!" Yuga shouted, and Legend heard everyone say 'heave' at various times, as they all tugged on the rope. The object slowly began to exit the spirit, and the process continued for what felt like hours as they continued to pull on the rope at Yuga's command. 

When the object started to come out, there was muck that squirted out, and Legend covered his face, pulling slightly before stepping aside, hands close to his chest. He watched as Warriors ran out of the room as object after object that was covered in muck continued to flow out of the stink spirit, before there was just a single string left. 

Legend furrowed his brow, grabbing onto the string, and giving it a single yank, nearly falling over, before the water that covered the spirit flowed over, covering him, before he felt the spirit grabbed onto him once more. 

"Legend! Legend, where are you?" Warriors voice was muffled, and Legend could barely hear him as he tried to open his eyes, trying to see beyond the water that was still covering him somehow. 

The water slowly fell down from over him, and he rubbed his eyes, watching as something began to emerge from the water leftover in the tub. It appeared to be a moon with a face, and Legend almost fell over, startled at the angry face that look back at him. "Well done," he said, before it began to fade away.

The water bubbled slightly, and Legend watched it curiously as it slowly turned a darker color, white specs decorating it. It reminded him of the sky back in Hyrule. "Legend, move aside, you're in the way of our guest." Legend jumped when he heard Yuga's voice, but quickly moved, not bothering to think about what was left in his hand from the spirit as he watched it emerge from the bath. 

The moon laughed loudly, space trailing behind it as it zoomed around the bathhouse, before making its exit through a shoji on the upper flow, heading towards the sky. Legend heard the workers of the bathhouse shouts, cheering loudly. 

"What the fuck," Legend murmured, furrowing his brow. He gave out a loud yelp when Yuga tackled him, giving him a hug. 

"Legend you did it!" The man said, stepping back from the embrace, smiling. "We made so much money! That was the space spirit, a spirit that is very powerful, and *very* rich," Yuga said. Legend looked around, and he didn't even notice how much gold littered the floors. "Everyone, take notes from Legend. Saki's on the house tonight! But first, return all the gold you took, you thieves."

Legend wasn't paying attention as he opened his hands up, studying the thing that that space spirit had placed in his hands. The complaints from his coworkers went in one ear and through the other as he rolled what he thought to be food in between his fingers. 

Warriors slung in arm over Legend's shoulder. "Good job Leggy!" Warriors said, grinning. 

Legend elbowed Warriors in the side. "Don't call me that," he said, smiling softly. 

Warriors just continued to grin as he ruffled Legend's hair.

After the events of the day, Legend and Warriors retired to their room. Warriors grabbed some red bean buns for everyone, and was talking to Twilight and some others inside their room. 

Legend leaned his forehead against the fence, his legs dangling over the balcony. It was a weird day. 

He felt Warriors nudge him as he sat down next to him. "Here," he said, handing Legend the red bean bun. "Saved some for you."

"Thanks, nerd," Legend said, taking a bite. He chewed it slowly, before swallowing. He never tasted something like that before. It was... good. "Have you seen Ravio?"

Warriors groaned from where he laid down next to Legend, chewing loudly. "Not that bitch again," Warriors sighed. "He does whatever he wants, just runs around. People like to say he's Yuga's henchman, doing all of his dirty work."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

"Lights out Warriors!" Twilight shouted from inside. 

"Fine!" Warriors shouted back, continuing to eat. "Don't worry about him though. He doesn't care about us."

Legend nodded, his brow furrowing as he took another bite of the red been bun, staring down at the lake. He tilted his head, watching as the machine he heard when he first appeared go across the water. "Warriors, what's that," he asked, pointing at the machine. 

"It's a train. It's impossible to get a ticket for it nowadays, though. This is about as close to it as you're gonna get," Warriors explained, finishing his red bean bun. He picked up another one, chewing it slowly. "There's so much water, all that rain was horrible. I gotta get on that train some day, get out of this place. It's so shitty working for Yuga." 

"Yeah," Legend said mindlessly as he reached into the pocket of his pants, pulling out the item that the spirit from earlier gave him. He studied it for a moment, before taking a small bite out of it. 

He gagged, spitting out the remains of it out, before eating the rest of the red bean bun to cleanse his palette of the horrible taste while Warriors laughed at him.

When Legend woke up everyone was gone. Great. He woke up late for work and not even Warriors bothered to tell him to get his ass out of bed. 

He slipped his uniform, tying it quickly as he ran into the bathhouse. He paused, watching as people were rushing in and out of rooms, late plates of rooms in head. “Hey, LEgend! You’re awake!” Legend turned his head, watching was Warriors stopped from where he was walking up the stairs. “I was just about to wake you up.”

“What’s going on?” Legend asked, turning away from the scene, walking down the stairs to follow Warriors. 

Warriors took something out of his pocket, handing it to Legend. “New guest. Fuckin’  _ loaded _ , he’s handing gold out like crazy. Yuga is up yet, so we get to keep everything we get our hands on, as long as no one snitches to Yuga,” Warriors said, winking at Legend.    
  
The hero frowned. “I’m gonna go look for Ravio. Need to talk to him about something.”

Warriors rolled his eyes. “Your loss,” he said, shrugging, before running off. Legend watched Warriors run into Twilight and Sky, and he shook his head, going back up the stairs, intending to go back to his room. 

He gazed off at the sea, staring off at the train tracks when he heard the loud thumping of feat against the wood, before he saw Ravio turn from a corner. “Ravio!” Legend shouted, eyes furrowing when he saw pieces of paper, cut out to look like people, flying after him quickly. Their was blood coming out of deep cuts on his cheeks and the rest of his body, his cloak cut him. He ran into his room, hand on the shoji, ready to close it. “In here!”

Ravio panted heavily as he threw himself into the room, and Legend slammed the shoji shut, some of the papers coming inside, fluttering to the ground. Legend watched as the rest of it collected on the other side of the shoji, others just falling to the ground. Slowly, they all lifted, retreating. Legend opened up the shoji, frowning when he watched the paper leave, the ones that was inside the room following suit now that the shoji was open.

“Ravio?” Legend turned around, his brow furrowing as he approached the purple haired man. Ravio was bleeding heavily, breathing uneven, as blood seeped out through his mouth and down his chin. “Ravio you’re bleeding, what happened?” He reached a hand out to grab Ravio, but the man swatted it away, standing up and running off, jumping onto the fencing along the balcony, before he jumped onto the overhang. 

Legend ran towards the fencing, turning as he watched Ravio quickly scale the bathhouse and make his way up to the top floor, up to Yuga’s room. “Stupid idiot is gonna get himself killed,” he hissed, running up the stairs. 

He needed to get to the top floor quickly, but it was hard to once he entered the bathhouse, and was met with all of his coworkers crowding the hallway, their arms raised up, everyone chattering wildly. He couldn’t understand what any of them were saying. He pushed them aside, sneaking past them. Legend didn’t have time for whatever nonsense this was, Ravio could be fucking  _ dying _ .

Legend ran to the elevator, hoping to get up as fast as he could. Plans failed, however, when he ran headfirst into one of the frogs. “Hey! What do you think you’re doing?” He said, grabbing Legend’s wrist.

“Get out of the way, I need to get to the top floor!” Legend shouted, pushing at the frog’s chest with his free hand. 

“No you don’t- is that  _ blood _ !?” The frog shouted, letting go of Legend’s hand when he noticed the hero’s hands caked with blood. Legend huffed, turning away, running down the small walkway in the hall. 

“What are you doing!?” Sky shouted when Legend stumbled to a stop in front of the foreman, holding his fans up. He glanced back at the shadowy figure that Legend had let in nervously. “You need to move!” 

Legend stumbled back, looking up at the figure. The shouts from his coworkers on both sides of him ceased. “Thanks for earlier,” Legend said, tilting his head. 

Sky moved his fans once more. “Please, you need to get out of the way for our guest,” Sky mumbled, before he picked up. The foreman screamed as he was chucked to the side, landing on top of Legend’s coworkers. 

Legend gulped as the figure slowly approached him, and Legend bowed his head. He watched as the figure made quiet noises, outstretching her hands to Legend. Gold began to form in the palm of her hands, and Legend scrunched up his nose, taking a step back. “Uh, no thanks, I don’t want this,” he said, pushing the spirit’s hands back.    
  
He heard gasps from his coworkers, heard the gold drop from the spirit’s hands and fall to the ground. The spirit continued to make small noises, moving her hands as she kept offering the gold to him. Her hands shook, more gold clattering against the wooden floors. Legend sighed. “Look, I need to get somewhere, sorry to disappoint,” he said snarkily, lips pulling down into a scowl as he ran past the spirit. 

Legend heard the rest of the gold fall to the ground, felt the people push past him to crowd around the spirit and collect the gold she dropped at her feet. 

With a huff, he ran into one of the hallways, coming to a stop in front of a window. He forced it open, climbing onto the roof, making his way towards a ladder gently. As long as he made it to the top, it was fine. Wellbeing be damned. 

Legend was far enough from the commotion that he didn’t notice the screams that came fro his coworkers. 

Finding a small, stained glass window was lucky. Being able to ram it open with getting glass everywhere was even better. He didn’t take time to study the large bathroom he ended up in, instead running to where he assumed the exit was, and rushing into a plush room.

Legend paused, his brow furrowing. 

It was a child’s room. Toys, blankets, and pillows littered the floors in a disorganized mess, the bed that rested against the wall was large, and he’d never seen a mattress that big before in his life. He slowly made his way past it, glancing at large curtains. Legend’s eyes widened, and he ran towards the curtains, pushing past them, and glancing through the crack in the door, where he heard a female voice speaking. 

“Ugh, he’s bleeding all over the carpet,” the woman said with a shake of her head.  _ ‘She looks like a witch _ ,’ he thought, chewing his lip. “If you don’t get out of here you’ll be dead soon,” she said, tapping her fingernail against her chin. 

The witch quickly turned, facing the door that Legend was hiding behind, and he gasped lightly, turning to run back into the room. He look ed around frantically, before diving into a large pile of pillows off to the side, and he covered his mouse, trying to slow his breathing. 

Legend heard the woman swing open the curtains dramatically, before she stepped forward, towards the pile. Legend’s heartbeat was loud against his ears as he heard the pillows being chucked against the floor, before ceasing. “Ah,” the witch said, and Legend heard a baby begin to cry. “Sh, sh, it’s okay, there’s no need to cry. I’m sorry I woke you,” the witch said softly. “Go back to sleep.” Legend heard the woman place pillows back onto the pile, before leaving, hearing the click of the door. 

Legend breathed heavily, before he sighed in relief. He lifted a pillow up slightly, looking around, before making his way out of the pile.   
  
“Shit!” He hissed as he was pulled back into the pile, a hand wrapped his wrist. He fought back against whatever was dragging him, wishing he had his sword or  _ something _ on him to fight back. “Let go of me!” He whisper-shouted, pushing against its chest. He blinked at what was holding him, and immediately frowned. “You’re the ugliest baby I’ve ever seen.” Legend shook his head, as he began trying to pry his hand out of the baby’s grasp. “Let go, I need to help my friend, I’m in a hurry.”   
  
“You came in here to make me sick- you’re one of the fairies from outside, aren’t you?” 

“What?” Legend shook his head, kicking at the child. “No, I’m a person,” he said, flabbergasted. “Do I even look like a fairy or are you dumber than you look? Freaking let me go already!”

“You’ll get sick if you go outside,” the baby said, tugging at Legend’s arm. “Stay and play. We can make maps.”

“I don’t want to make maps with you, I need to go help my friend!” Legend grunted, wiping his brow with hie forearm, before he shoved his bloodied hand into the baby’s face. “Look! I have germs, now let go of me!” 

The baby cried, and pushed Legend around as it began to thrash. Rolling his eyes, Legend quickly left the pile of pillows, and ran out, shoving the doors open. “Ravio!” He shouted, pushing aside Four in the process. He placed his hand on Ravio’s shoulder, his hands shaking slightly as he looked at the man’s stomach, staring at the blood stains on his stomach. “You fucking idiot-”

Red, Blue, and Green began to push at Ravio’s body, trying to push him down the hole in the floor, while Violet started to attack Legend, pulling and scratching at his arms. “Get away!” Legend shouted, pulling Ravio’s body close to his. That didn’t stop Red, Blue, and Green from trying to push his legs, but the three started to push at Legend with Violet. 

When the pushing stopped suddenly, Legend furrowed his brow, sitting him, his grasp on Ravio lessening as he turned around, watching as the abby slowly made his way towards him. “I’m not afraid of germs. Make maps with me, or else I’ll cry,” the baby said, already sniffling. 

Legend heard a sigh, before he saw one of the papers from earlier appear. “Babies are so loud,” it said, floating to the side. It touched the ground, and an image of the witch that Legend saw before appeared. She look at Legend, sighing once more, before she flicked her wrist at the baby. 

Legend watched, entranced, as the baby shrunk down into a small fairy. It squeaked and patted its body. “The fuck,” Legend mumbled, pulling Ravio into his lap, letting the man’s head fall against his shoulder. He wrapped his arms tightly around Ravio. 

“There we go, no more crying.” She hummed, and tapped her cheek as she looked around, eyes falling onto Four. “Lets see, what else can we mess with?” She pointed at Blue, Violet, Red, and Green, before with a wave of her finger, made them all come together. 

The Hylian furrowed his brow when he saw them turn into one whole person. The person patted their cheeks, and glanced down at their attire. He moved his lips, as if trying to form words, but all that came out was a jumbled mess. He looked around confusedly. 

The witch hummed, before she walked up to one of the many plants, and with a wave of her hand made the plant appear as the baby that she had just turned into a fairy. She turned back to Legend with a grin. “There we go. Don’t tell anyone about this. Consider it our little secret,” she said with a laugh. 

“Who the hell are you?” Legend shouted, trying to shield Ravio as best as he could. 

“Irene, I’m Yuga’s step sister,” she introduced, watching as the fairy flew over to Legend and onto Ravio’s lap. “Thank you for leading me to that bunny, he’s stole my solid gold seal and I want it back.”

“He’s not a thief!” Legend swatted at Irene’s hand, annoyed when he realized that this was just an image of her, and that she wasn’t actually there. 

“Yes he is!” Irene yelled, stomping her feet. “He wanted to steal Yuga’s magic secret, that’s why he’s working for him, and now he’s stolen mine, now hand him over! I need it back!” 

“Fuck no! You can pry him from my cold dead hands,” Legend said, glaring at Irene. 

The witch huffed, bringing a hand up. “That can be arranged-” Before she had the chance to do anything, Legend watched at Four walked up to the paper, quickly ripping it half. “Ow, a papercut,” Irene said, disappearing abruptly. 

Legend brought a hand up to his chest, sighing in relief as Four crawled up to him. The man placed a hand on Legend’s arm, glancing around the room for a moment, before gripping his uniform tightly, and pushing him and Ravio down the hole, following the man down. 

“Fucking traitor!” Legend shouted, grabbing Ravio’s cloak so that he could pull him up against his chest. He winced, closing his eyes as they continued to fall. He heard Four shout, and the fairy squeak as they all braced for impact. “Ravio, wake up!” Legend hit the mans cheek a couple times, hoping for a reaction. 

He opened his eyes, watching as Four grabbed onto a ledge, eyes wide as he stared at him. Legend felt something try to grab him, clenching around his uniform, trying to pull him down, before he felt Ravio grab at him, carrying bridal style. His eyes were unfocused as he leapt from wall to wall, towards an entrance. 

Legend wrapped his arms around Ravio’s neck as Four followed them as quickly as he could, climbing up to the tunnel they went through, and running as fast as he could. 

The hero screamed when they all began to fall down, crashing through a fan. 

He felt Sheerow grab him, the man slamming against his seat, while Ravio and four fell onto the floor. Blood splattered against the cupboard. 

“Ravio!” Legend shouted, ignoring the warnings from Sheerow as he ran up to Ravio. The man was coughing wildly, clawing at the floor. “Ravio are you okay?!” Ravio glared at Legend, hissing at the man as he backed up to the cupboards. 

“It looks like he’s bleeding from the inside,” Sheerow said, sneaking up behind Legend along with Four. “Maybe he swallowed something.”

Legend nodded, and reached into the pocket of his uniform, digging around for the thing the space spirit gave him. “Ravio, eat this,” he said, placing a hand against Ravio’s cheek, thumb brushing against his lips. The man looked at it warily, tilting his head away. “Please. It was a gift, from that weird moon spirit guy, it’s gonna help you,” he said, climbing into Ravio’s lap. He took a small bite out of it as he tilted Ravio’s head back towards him, pushing it against Ravio’s lips. “Look, it’s okay to eat, it won’t hurt you, just fucking eat it,” he grumbled, sticking his fingers into Ravio’s mouth in an attempt to pry it open.

“Medicine from the space spirit,” Sheerow said, titling his head. Four looked up at Sheerow questioningly. 

Legend opened Ravio’s mouth, and shoved the medicine in, before he covered Ravio’s mouth with his hand when Ravio tried to spit it out. “Chew it and swallow it, it’s good for you,” Legend said harshly, pushing Ravio’s shoulder against the cupboards when the man tried to push him away. “Eat it or I’ll kill you myself!” Legend shouted. 

When Ravio began to chew the medicine, Link relaxed, letting his fall, his forehead resting against Ravio’s as he sigh in relief. When Ravio swallowed the medicine, he removed his hand, and crawled out of Ravio’s lap. “Fucking  _ Hylia _ !” Legend scrambled away from Ravio quickly when the man began to gag, black goop dribbling out of his mouth. He retched, leaning over the floor, and Legend watched in disgust as black bile left Ravio’s lips, bouncing against the floor. 

“Get rid of it!” Sheerow shouted, point at it when they notice it begin to twitch, before it crawled off of the golden seal, and scatter around the floor in panic. 

“Fuck no, you get rid of it!” Legend shouted, pulling Ravio up when he noticed the man almost fall over. “I’m busy!” 

Sheerow made a high pitched sound, before he pushed Four towards the moving goop that was trying to get into the space where the soot balls relaxed. ”Get the black slug!” Sheerow yelled at Four, pointing at the black slug as it tried to find an exit.

Four yelped, stepping around on the concrete wildly, trying to step on the slug with his bare feet, his eyes focused on the slug. When he stepped on the slug, he stared, wide eyed at Sheerow, his mouth agape, disgust visible on his features. 

“You actually killed it!” Sheerow said, watching as Four lifted his foot up from the goop. “That’s bad luck- quickly quickly, come here, before it rubs off on your. Put your thumbs and forefingers together, quickly!” Sheerow gestured for Four to go over to him quickly, and Four hopped towards the man, his thumbs and forefingers together. “Evil begone.” Sheerow brought his hand down in a cutting gesture, slicing down between Four’s thumb and forefingers, separating his hands. 

Legend watched the scene from his spot, Ravio in his arms. He narrowed his eyes. “That’s the seal that Ravio stole from Yuga’s step sister.”

“Irene!?” Sheerow sat up quickly, eyes darting between Legend and the golden seal in Four’s hand. “That’s as powerful as it gets.”

“She put a curse on the seal,” Legend said, laying Ravio down gently. He brushed Ravio’s bangs away, sighing softly. 

“He must be gravely ill,” Sheerow said, inspecting Ravio. He placed blankets and pillows down on the floor, that ones that Legend always say Sheerow laying on, before he moved Ravio to the makeshift bed. Sheerow handed a small bowl of water to him, and Legend lifted Ravio up, placing the bowl against Ravio’s lips. “That should be more comfortable for him.”

Legend furrowed his brow, beginning to play with Ravio’s hair as he set the man down. “How do you know Ravio?” Legend asked gently. 

“He showed up out of nowhere,” Sheerow started, sighing as he got comfortable in his spot. “Just like you, saying he wanted a job. Told him it was too dangerous, but he didn’t listen to me and he got a job as Yuga’s apprentice. He said he didn’t have a home to go back to.”

“That’s dramatic,” Legend said with a scoff. “Where does Irene live? I can apologize to her and give the golden seal back.” He glanced over to where Four was, and he furrowed his brow as he watched the fairy recreate the scene that happened between Four and Sheerow moments ago. Four was watching with a smile on his face. 

“She’s a dangerous witch-”

“I don’t care!” Legend yelled, biting the inside of his cheek. “I need to help Ravio, after all he did for me.”

Sheerow sighed, scratching his head. “I don’t know how’d you get back home after going to Irene’s, but you can figure it out. Wait here.”

Legend nodded, watching as Sheerow went off. His attention went back to Ravio, and he sighed, leaning down slightly to press a small kiss against Ravio’s forehead, before he sat back up, cheeks flushed pink. He continued to play with Ravio’s hair as he stared at the blood that was staining the walls. “Hey, soot boys,” Legend said quietly, turning to the soot balls and four as he began to take off his uniform. “I need my stuff back.”

The soot balls ran off into their holes to get Legend’s stuff back, and he sighed, before glancing at Four. “You alright if I call you Four?” He asked. 

“Uh- yes,” he nodded, smiling. “Yeah, we like that.” 

“Alright, cool,” Legend said, before he pointed at the fairy. “Do you know his name?”

“Tingle,” Four said, as the fairy flew to rest on Four’s shoulder. “Yuga’s baby.”

“Yeah, I know,” Legend said with a sigh. 

“Legend!” The door to the boiler room slammer open, and Legend turned to look at Warriors with a frown. “Where you  _ been _ !?” He hissed, stepping up to the hero. “The room was a mess, and everyone’s looking for you! Yuga’s so pissed off, the lady with all the money turned out ot be a monster named Rosa- she said  _ you _ let her in!” Warriors explained loudly, glancing over the state of the boiler room, before he turned his attention back to Legend. “Is she right? Did you let her in?”

Legend furrowed his brow in thought, biting his bottom lip. “Oh. Yeah I did. I thought that she wanted a bath-”

“She ate three people!”

“Here it is!” Sheerow interrupted, rushing over to Legend. 

“Train tickets?” Warriors said, bewildered. “How did you get those?”

“I’ve been saving them. Now, Legend, Irene lives at a place called Swamp Bottom.”

“Swamp Bottom,” Legend repeated with a nod. 

“Yes, and it’s the sixth stop.”

“Sixth stop.”

“Hey, you can’t just leave without taking care of Rosa,” Warriors said, frowning as he watched Legend take the train tickets, tucking it into his pocket. 

The hero groaned. “I’ll take care of that now. Shouldn’t be too long.” Legend brushed his fingers against Ravio’s cheek with a sigh. “I’ll be back later, don’t die on me, stupid.”

“What’s going on?” Warriors whispered to Sheerow. 

“It’s called love, fuck boy, something you wouldn’t understand.”

* * *

The room was covered in dirty dishes and bones, scraps of food littered the floor. Legend was disgusted, to say the least. 

He had went in by himself, Four and Tingle waiting for him outside of the room. He sat in front of Rosa silently, thoughts racing. 

“Want some gold?” Rosa said, tilting her head as she crawled close to Legend. “I’m not giving it to anyone else. Come on, Legend, what would you like? I can give you anything you want.”

There was a lot of things he wanted. He wanted Koholint and Marin to be real, he wanted to go home, wanted to help Ravio, wanted to  _ be _ with Ravio. “I want to leave.” 

“Leave?!” Rosa shouted, stumbling back. “You can’t leave!”

Legend narrowed his eyes at Rosa. “You should leave, go back home or wherever you came from. Yuga doesn’t want you here anymore, and you’re costing us a fortune by destroying everything and eating everyone.” Legend felt his heartbeat speed up, and his hands shook slightly. 

“No, I don’t have a home,” Rosa said, sinking into herself. “I have nowhere to go, nowhere to go, nowhere to go-” she repeated to herself quietly, before she outstretched her hand towards to Legend. “Here! Take the gold!” 

Legend stood up, backing up quickly. “No thanks, I’d rather leave.”

“Take it.” 

Legend huffed. “I’ll take it after you eat this,” Legend said, pulling the remaining medicine out of his pocket. He stared at the mask Rosa was wearing, before stepping to the side, chucking the medicine into her mouth.

The reaction was immediate, as remnants of food covered in black slipped out, the spirit heaving and coughing loudly, shrinking down. “Legend- Legend, what did you  _ do to me _ !?” Rosa shrieked, before she charged at Legend. 

Legend quickly opened the door, shutting it behind him, as he grabbed onto Four’s wrist, running down the hallway. “Shit- we gotta go!” He heard the wall fall over, the frogs screaming as they got trampled. 

“What did you do!?” Four hissed, turning back to stare at Rosa as she chased after them, her puke trailing behind them. Four shivered at the sight, and turned back forward as they continued running. 

Legend and Four raced down the stairs, narrowly avoiding Rosa when she hit the elevator. “Come on, come on,” Legend said to himself, dragging Four along. He turned his head back, watching as Rosa puked up two people. 

She trailed after them slowly, her energy depleting. Legend slowed down as he exited the bathhouse, hearing Rosa puke loudly behind him.

“Legend!” Warriors shouted, waving his arm to catch the hero’s attention. “This way!”

Legend nodded, and he and Four made their way quickly to where Warriors was in a tarai-bune. The two hopped in, and Warriors began to steer the tarai-bune to where the train station was. He took off his uniform, revealing his red tunic, and reached into the pocket of the uniform, pulling out his hat. “Over here Rosa!” Legend shouted, and Four waved his arms. 

“Are you crazy?!” Warriors hissed, glancing at Legend. “Don’t call him over here, I don’t wanna get eaten!”

Legend scoffed as he hoisted his bag over his shoulder after picking it up from where it sat in the tarai-bune. “She’s not gonna eat you. She just wanted to find a place to call home. I think the bathhouse made her go a little crazy in the proces, though.”

“That doesn’t correlate at all-”

“She fell!” Four shouted, pointing at where Rosa had fallen into the water. 

“Great, know I got a spirit eating demon following us,” Warriors grumbled, before he stopped amongst the train tracks. “Alright, get out, I’m not going anywhere. You two are heavy as fuck.”

“You’re just weak,” Legend said, hopping out of the tarai-bune, helping Four out once he landed on the train tracks. He held his boots and socks in one hand, and Four copied him.

“Station’s down that tracks, kid. Don’t die, and-” Warriors paused, sighing quietly. “-and be safe,” he finished, going back to the bathhouse. 

Legend waved at Warriors, smiling gently. 

“Swamp Bottom?” Four looked up at Legend with a tilt of his head, the water splashing against their ankles gently. The rocks dug into the feet as they made their way to the train station.

“Swamp Bottom,” Legend repeated, nodding. “Sixth stop.” 

When the station came into view, the two ran to it, glad to be out of the water. Legend slipped his boots on wordlessly, while Four put his shoes on, struggling for a moment. 

The train came to a stop, and the door opened with a hiss. There was a small man inside, wearing grey overalls and gloves. He had a name tag over his overalls that said ‘Wind’. Wind grinned at them as Legend pulled the tickets out of his bag, and handing it to the shorter man. “One, two, three…” he pointed at Legend, then Four, and then Tingle, before pausing, and pointing behind them, tilting his head. “Four?”

“Oh.” Legend paused, shifting from one foot to the other. “You wanna come with?” Rosa nodded silently. “Alright. Get her too,” Legend said, turning back to Wind. 

Wind nodded, inserting the tickets into the ticket shredder that he had, the remains falling into a small pouch he had. He stepped aside, and stretched his arm out. “Welcome aboard!” Wind said cheekily, before he walked off. 

There was a few other shadowy figures that were on the train, but it wasn’t enough to fill the silence. The chairs were barely used, and only some of the spirits were seated, others were standing up, their hands placed on the poles. 

Legend took a seat away from the people, and Four followed suit, swinging his legs gently once he sat down. Rosa was standing by the door of the train still, until Four beckoned her over to where they were seated. 

She took the seat next to Four, and the rest of the trip was spent in silence while Legend counted each stop, waiting anxiously until they got to Swamp Bottom. 

* * *

When they got off the train, it was nighttime, and Legend couldn’t say he was too confident in whether or not they were in the right place, but he pressed on nonetheless, Rosa and Four following behind silently. Tingle was resting on Four’s shoulder, but the baby would float ahead occasionally. 

When they got to a certain point, they saw a man with brunette hair stare at them, a lantern in his hand. The brunette smiled at them, and waved, before making a small gesture to them, indicating for them to follow. 

The whole thing felt strangely whimsical to Legend as they followed the man, he swung his arms gently, the light from the lantern swaying.

It didn’t take long for them to reach what Legend assumed to be Irene’s house, and he watched as the man grabbed onto the sticks that helped form a little entryway, and the brunette disappeared, leaving the lantern hanging from the stick. 

“That’s weird,” Legend murmured, walking up to the house. He raised his hand to knock, but the door opened slowly. 

“Come in!” 

“Hello?” 

“Hurry up, you’re letting all of the warm air out!”

Legend waved Rosa and Four in, the door shutting once they all entered the home. Irene smiled at them as the door shut. “I’m glad you all made it safely. Must have been a long trip. Please sit down, you must be tired,” Irene walked off towards her oven, gesturing her hand towards the table. ‘I’ll make some tea.”

While Four and Rosa went to take a seat at the table, Legend walked up to Irene, taking the solid golden seal out of his bag, handing it out towards the witch. “Ravio stole this from you, right? We came to return it, and I’m sorry he stole it from you,” he said quietly. 

Irene hummed, studying the seal for a moment, before her eyes widened. “The protective spell is gone!” She said in shock. 

“I stepped on it!” Four said from his seat at the table. He bowed his head. “I’m really sorry I squashed it!” 

“The black slug?” Irene placed a hand over her mouth, her shoulders shaking as she giggled uncontrollably behind her hand. “That wasn’t mine!” She said in between a fit of giggles. “That was Yuga’s! He used it to control Ravio, and you smashed it with your foot!” Irene laughed once more, as she began ot redirect Legend towards another seat at the table.

“What about your spell then?” Legend asked, brow furrowed. “What was it?”

“Only true love could break that protective spell,” Irene said, glancing at Four and Tingle. “The spell wore off on you two a long time ago, why haven’t you changed back yet?” She asked, tilting her head. 

Tingle and Four exchanged glances, and Four placed a hand over his heart. “This feels better. We all like being like this,” he said with a small smile, and Tingle just shrugged. 

“If you say so,” Irene said, beginning to set the table with cheese, sweats, and the tea. She sat down with a sigh as she poured herself a cup of tea. “I don’t get along with Yuga that well, he’s a brat, and he’s not  _ technically _ my brother to begin with,” she said, taking a sip of her tea, before she poured a cup for Legend, Four, and Rosa. “I don’t like how he runs the bathhouse to begin with, too. I can’t help you with Ravio, though, I’m sorry.”

Legend sighed, rubbing his forehead. “I don’t know how else I’m supposed ot help him though,” he mumbled, watching as Four sipped his tea. “There’s something familiar about Ravio, but I know I’ve never met him before. There’s just… I don’t know. He’s just familiar, and it makes no sense.”

“That’s a good start,” Irene said, crossing her leg over the other. “Don’t dwell on it too much, dear. Now, your friends and I are gonna make you something, try not to think too hard,” Irene said, standing up. “Call me Aunty while you’re here, by the way.” Four and Rosa followed Irene over to where her sewing things were, and Legend stood up, going to sit in the chair by the door. 

He pulled his legs up ot his chest, hiding his face in his knees. He heard Irene and Four talking, and he sighed, tuning out their conversations. “Why does he feel so familiar,” he grumbled, pushing his hair back. There was no reason why Ravio should feel familiar. Nothing about Ravio looked like someone he knew, nor did he act like someone he knew. Maybe it was because this whole scenario was similar to Koholint? 

No, it couldn’t be. Legend had to wake up the Wind Fish to escape. So far all he had to do with work in a bathhouse, but just was just so Yuga didn’t curse him or something. Ravio said he would find a way home for Legend, but the hero was starting to doubt that he would even be able to find home at this point. He wasn’t even sure if going home would be worth it, if it meant leaving Ravio behind. 

He huffed, resting his chin on his knees. “What if Ravio is dead?” He said aloud, staring intently at the floor. “What if we were too late and he just… didn’t get back up? I’m just sitting around here wasting time and he could be  _ dead _ . And- and maybe Hyrule is in trouble again, and I’m stuck working in a bathhouse-”

Irene sighed loudly. “Give me a moment, please,” she said softly, before she snipped at whatever she was holding. “Ah yes, here we go. Come here, for a second, please,” she beckoned Legend over, and she grabbed his wrist, slipping on a fabric cuff bracelet. It was small, and blended in with his tunic. “It’ll protect you,” Irene said a smile. “It’s woven together by your friends.”

Legend touched the fabric of the cuff bracelet gently. “Thank you,” he murmured. He wiped at his eyes, jumping slightly at the knock of the door. 

“Hm, would you look at that,” Irene said, looking towards the door. “Another guest. Will you get that for me please?”

“Yeah, sure,” Legen mumbled, letting his arms drop as he opened the door. His eyes widened, and he grinned happily. “Ravio! You’re okay!” He wrapped his arms around Ravio’s neck, burying his head into Ravio’s chest.

Ravio laughed, wrapping his arms around Legend’s waist and pulling him closer. “Yes, yes, I’m okay, why wouldn’t I be?” 

Legend looked up, sniffling as he wiped at the couple of tears that he shed. “I was worried about you, asshole,” he grumbled, cupping Ravio’s cheek. 

Ravio smiled as he placed his hand over Legend’s, thumb brushing the back of Legend’s hand. “I’m sorry to have worried. Would this make up for it, mayhaps?” Ravio leaned down, pressing a small kiss against Legend’s forehead. 

Legend flushed, placing his hand over Ravio had kissed him. “Ah, that’s true love for you,” Irene said, leaning against the doorframe. “I’m glad you’re okay, Ravio. I’ll forgive you for stealing my solid gold seal, but only if you take care of him. He’s special.” Irene clasped her hands together, turning to Four and Tingle. “It’s time for you two to be on your way now, thank you so much for visiting. And Rosa, would you like to stay here and help me? It gets lonely sometimes, it’d be nice to have an extra pair of hands here.”

Rosa nodded, staying by Irene’s side, while Four and Tingle walked over to Ravio and Legend. “Bye Aunty!” Four said, waving. 

Legend licked his lips, momentarily leaving Ravio’s embrace, before he went to hug Irene, sighing. “Thank you for everything. I appreciate it.”

“Aw, thank you, Legend, it was nice having you,” Irene said, pulling back from the hug. 

Legend rubbed the back of his neck. “My real name is Link, actually,” he said quietly. 

“That’s a wonderful name you have there, Link. Take care of it.”

“I will,” Legend nodded, smiling softly. “I’ll see you around, yeah?”

Irene laughed. “Goodbye, Link.”

“Bye.” Legend and Four waved at Rosa and Irene as they began to depart, Legend grabbing Ravio’s hand gently. 

The walk along the train tracks back to the bathhouse was going to be a long and boring one, apparently. 

Legend sighed, rubbing his thumb against Ravio’s hand. “I don’t know why, but you feel really familiar to me,” Legend said, looking up at the sky. “Like, you kind of remind me of how I was like after my first adventure.”

Ravio tilted his head. “What makes you say that?” Ravio asked gently, thinning his lips. Four trailed behind them, listening to their conversation intently, Tingle on his shoulder. They were all holding their shoes as they made their way back home. 

“Like… really serious, not really that carefree. Like I carried the weight of the world on my shoulders,” Legend explained, swinging their hands gently. “I mean, I did, because the Goddess Hylia is a bitch, but I learned to relax afterwards.”

“The Goddess Hylia?” Ravio repeated. 

“Yeah, she’s a bitch. Gave me the hero’s spirit and the Triforce of Courage,” Legend raised his hand up, showing Ravio the Triforce mark that was on his skin. He let his hand drop. “I guess I was the chosen hero, or whatever the fuck, so I was just. Destine to fight evil and stuff.” 

Ravio’s brow furrowed as he flowed to a stop, Four bumping into his back. Ravio touched the back of his hand, squinting at the ground. “I…” He raised his hand up to his eyes, as if trying to see a mark on his hand like Legend had. “I think I was a hero of this land.”

“What are you talking about?” Legend grabbed Ravio’s hand, studying it as well. It was smooth, barren of any mark. 

“I remember… I remember there being a Triforce for this land,” Ravio started, frowning. “But it was destroyed, I believe. I was supposed to be a hero, and I remember going to find someone named Hilda to help me, but…” Ravio trailed off, pressing his free hand against his head, hissing slightly. “I only remember showing up in front of Yuga, and him telling me I was a travelling merchant. Link- I was a hero, Link!”

“You were a hero!” Legend shouted back, ecstatic. “Ravio!” The blonde pulled the man into a hug, swaying slightly when he felt Ravio hug back just as tightly. “You were a hero,” he repeated, softer that time. 

“You saved me,” Ravio whispered, pulling back. “You helped me, and you saved me from Yuga, Link.” Ravio leaned forward, pressing his lips against Legend’s, smiling widely. 

Legend reciprocated, leaning back with a laugh. “I’m so happy for you,” he whispered, kissing Ravio once more. 

* * *

It’s been a few days since the depart from Irene’s home, but they finally made it back to the bathhouse. 

Link, Ravio, Four, and Tingle stood on the other side of the bridge, watching Yuga pace in front of a set of pigs. Link watched as Warriors peaked over the top of the wall, grinning. “There they are!” he shouted, the rest of the members of the bathhouse popping up, shouting loudly. 

“Where’s my baby, Ravio!” Yuga shouted, clenching his hands by his sides. 

Tingle floated to the middle of the bridge, wings flapping steadily, flying up for a moment, before he turned back to his original form. “Kooloo limpah!” Tingle shouted once he landed. He was smiling at Yuga. “Papa!”

“Oh, my son!” Yuga ran up to TIngle, hugging him. “Where have you been, are you hurt? You’re outside! And you’re standing up!”

“Don’t forget what you promised me, Yuga!” Ravio shouted, squeezing Legend’s hand. “You still need to send Link back home in the Hylian world!”

“I get to give him one last test Ravio!” There were boos from the bathhouse workers. “Silence!” 

“Stop is, papa,” Tingle crossed him arms, sniffling. “Leave Legend alone. He’s my friend, and if can’t leave, then I won’t like you anymore.”

“Hey, it’s fine!” Link shouted, squeezing the bridge of his nose as he walked up to Yuga. “A deal’s a deal. What the fuck am I supposed to do? Clean the big tub again?” He scoffed. 

“No, that’s far too simple. Come this way, I have your contract right here. It’ll only take a minute,” Yuga said, walking over to where the pigs were laid out. “Now, when you entered the spirit world, there was another family here too, they got turned into pigs. Guess which ones they are, and you get to go home.”

“What about the family?” Link asked, tilting his head.

“They’ll get to go home too once they revert back to their original forms,” Yuga explained pointing at the pigs. “Now, which one is it? Tick tock, we don’t have all day.”

“This is so unfair,” Link grumbled, scratching the back of his head as he stared at the pigs. They were all snorting at him, and pushing at each other gently with their noses. “Fuck it, is it none of them?”

“None of them?” Yuga’s grasp on the contract tightened. “Is that your answer?” 

Link thinned his lips, staring at the pigs once more. “Mmm yeah, sure, that’s my final answer.” 

The contract in Yuga’s hand disappeared in a puff of smoke, and Link watched as the pigs turned into his old coworkers. “You got it!” They all said in unison, and Link glanced up at Warriors, who was grinning wildly and giving him a thumbs up, alon with Sheerow. “Good job Legend!” 

“Alright, contracts gone, now get out of my sight,” Yuga huffed. 

Link laughed. “Thanks, asshole.” Link gave a salute to his old coworkers, before he turned around, running to Ravio with a smile as he grabbed the newly-remembered hero’s hand. “Bye everyone!” 

Ravio smiled. “Come on, lets go.” The ran down the stairs, Ravio dragging him along. They ran through the city, and Link looked around, memorizing each detail as much as he could. 

When the slowed to a stop in front of the frog statue on top of the staircase, Link swallowed. “The waters gone,” he mumbled, tightening his grasp around Ravio’s hand. 

“You can walk across now, Link,” Ravio said quietly. “I can’t go any farther, but you will be alright, just go back the way you came, Mister Hero. Do not look back, not until you get pass the tunnel,” Ravio instructed, taking a step back. 

Link furrowed his brow, glancing back at Ravio. “What about you, Ravio? Are you gonna be okay- are.. Am I ever gonna see you again?” Link asked, stepping closer to Ravio. He grabbed Ravio’s other hand, looking down. 

Ravio sighed, kissing the top of Link’s head. “I’ll be alright. I know who I was, who I am because of you. I’ll talk to Yuga and maybe quit and find something to do of my own,” Ravio shrugged, before he laughed. “Maybe I will actually become a travelling merchant. But my place isn’t at the bathhouse anymore.”

“You didn’t answer my question though,” Link said, narrowed his eyes at Ravio. 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Ravio said unconvincingly. 

Legend sighed. “Please, Ravio. I need to know if I’ll ever see you again.” He didn’t want this to be fake, didn’t want this to be a dream, didn’t want to leave Ravio and never see him again. Link wanted Ravio to be real and with him. 

Ravio tilted Legend’s chin up, kissing him gently. Link kissed back, desperately, but Ravio pulled back with a sigh, resting his forehead against Legend’s, his eyes closed. “It is unlikely we will ever see each other again, Mister Link, but I’ll find a way to. Don’t worry.” 

Link nodded, backing up. “I’ll see you again then, yeah?” He whispered. 

“Of course, hero. I promise.”

“Good.” Link opened his mouth, thinking about what to say, before shaking his head. “Bye Ravio,” he mumbled, turning around. He began walking away, and he felt tears prickle the corner of his eyes when his hand slipped from Ravio’s. 

“Goodbye Link!”

Link raised his hand up, waving slightly as he made his way across where the river should’ve been. The breeze flowed gently in the opposite direction Link was heading, brushing against his skin. His tunic flowed with the breeze, and Link held onto his hat so that it didn’t fall off. 

When he got to the top of the hill, he resisted the urge to turn back, resisted the urge to gaze upon the village that he had resided in for the past few days. Where he had met some of the best people he couldn’t have dreamed of meeting, despite the fact that he still had to work in a bathhouse to do so. Meeting all kinds of different people was… it was worth it. 

Link wanted to turn back, to rush towards Ravio and tell the other hero how much he wanted to stay, express how much that he didn’t want ot go back to Hyrule, but he knew that that wouldn’t work out. He had a role to fulfill in Hyrule, he needed to be a hero. As much as he wanted to retire from the position, he knew that no matter what happened, no matter what kind of evil popped up, he would still have to leave his home once more and fight it. 

Link couldn’t exactly protect Hyrule when he was in a different world. 

He sniffled rubbing his eyes once more. Fuck, he didn’t want to leave. 

He slowly made his way down the hill, stumbly slightly as he almost tripped over some rocks, and losing his balance wasn’t exactly ideal. Leaving this world and going back to Hyrule wasn’t exactly ideal, either. 

Link sighed as he continued downward, walking slowly. The wind brushed past him once more as he stood in front of the building he had first emerged from. The silence enwrapped him, gliding over his body and filling his ears. The hero placed his hand on the doorway, tapping against the tunnel. 

He breathed in deeply, tilting his head to the side for a moment, before he straightened it, staring into the void that was across the tunnel. He couldn’t look back, not now, not after everything he went through to get here. 

“Bye Ravio,” Link whispered to himself again, as he began the trek to the otherside of the tunnel. His footsteps echoed around him, and his hand lingered on the walls of the tunnel, feeling every bump and scratch beneath his fingertips. 

He could see the light on the other side of the tunnel. His pace quickened, and before Link new it, he was back in the forest. 

Back in Hyrule. 

Link walked up to the statue that he first saw, brow furrowing when he noticed it covered in moss and overgrowth. “How long was I gone for?” He mumbled, brushing his hand against the statue. 

He swallowed, turning around to stare back at the tunnel.

It was empty and dark. Just like he knew it would be. 

No snarky remark from Warriors, no Rosa trailing after him, no Four laughing quietly, no Ravio to hold his hand. 

Just the tunnel, with nothing on the other side. 

Link sighed, glancing down at his hand. He still had the fabric cuff bracelet that Irene made for him, with the help of Rosa, Four, and Tingle. “It wasn’t a dream,” he whispered to himself, his body relaxing. 

It wasn’t a dream.

It was real.

_ Ravio _ was real.

Link smiled to himself, as he turned back around, brushing his fingers against the moss covered statue once more, planning on returning back to his home.

Ravio was real, and Link had never felt more ecstatic about anything in his life. Even if he might not ever see Ravio ever again, at least he knew that the man was  _ real _ . That their relationship was real. That it wasn’t a dream.

Link couldn’t have been happier with the revelation. 

**Author's Note:**

> HOLY SHIT I CANT BELIEVE I GOT THIS DONE??????????? Ive been writing nonstop for two days now, alternating between watching the movie and writing, and I'm so glad I got this done? Originally it was intended to be super short and just the scenes between Chihiro and Haku, but then I was like HEY FUCK IT and did the whole movie so it got a lot longer and a lot less shippy kjashdfajf. 
> 
> Thanks for reading!!!! And thanks to everyone on the discord for helping me throughout the fic too aha. I hope you enjoyed this Stephen!!!
> 
> also the weird hand lamp thing was Hyrule LMAO


End file.
